UPDATE: Saturday 10:30 a.m.

Hawaii Department of Agriculture officials said this morning that the Punahou Carnival plant sale will be open today for the second day of the annual event.

The plant sales was closed Friday after an inspections of plants headed for the sale found invasive little fire ants, leading agricultural officials to isolate 400 plants.

But another inspection today “did not detect any little fire ants (LFA) on the plants offered for sale at the carnival,” according to a department news release. “LFA was not detected yesterday at the site; but in an abundance of caution, Punahou School voluntarily suspended plant sales yesterday.”

“Supporters of the Punahou Carnival plant sale can have confidence that the plants are free of little fire ants,” Sharon Hurd, chairperson of the Hawaii Board of Agriculture, said in the release. “We, again, want to commend Punahou School for their concern and cooperation – they have gone above and beyond to help protect the public from the invasive ants.”

The two day Punahou Carnival, themed “Explore the Shore ‘24,” is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. today.

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State officials said they intercepted plants with invasive little fire ants before the planned plant sale at the Punahou Carnival.

The Hawaii Department of Agriculture officials said that following an inspection Thursday, they isolated about 400 plants that were donated to the carnival, which started today. None were sold to the public. The plants were isolated at a separate site, they said.

The plant sale is not being held Friday “in an abundance of caution,” officials said, but may be held Saturday following results of further inspection.

“Mahalo to Punahou School for taking precautions and helping to ensure that plants available at the carnival are free of little fire ants and other pests,” Sharon Hurd, chairperson of the Hawaii Board of Agriculture, said in a news release. “We appreciate the school’s concern and exemplary cooperation in helping to stop the spread of invasive pests.”

Little fire ants, or Wasmannia auropunctata, are an invasive species native to South America that can deliver painful stings.

They measure about one-sixteenth of an inch long, are orange-red to light brown, and can infest homes and yards and cause blindness in pets.

The number of infestations have been growing in recent months and have now been reported across much of the windward side — from Kahuku to Hawaii Kai and Kahala.

In 2019, a woman who had purchased a staghorn fern at the carnival discovered about a month later that it was infested with little fire ants after she and her infant were stung. She noticed the tiny ants crawling on the nightstand next to her bed, where she had placed the fern.

Since then, Punahou School has allowed pre-sale surveys to detect any invasive pests on the plants for sale.

The plants were part of a “co-mingled shipment” of donated plants from several Oahu nurseries to the school for its carnival, according to state agriculture officials. They had been aggregated at one site before they were transported to school grounds.

Surveys continued throughout the day Thursday, and plants from that particular shipment were removed and isolated, department offcials said. Additional surveys this morning found no additional little fire ants in the plant sale area.

Agriculture department staff are following up with the nurseries involved in the shipment to determine the origin of the infested plants.

The Punahou Carnival, themed “Explore the Shore ‘24,” takes place from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

To report suspected invasive species, call the state’s toll-free pest hotline at 808-643-PEST (7378).